Locking attachment for boxes.



No. 734,255. I L PATENTED JULY-21, 1903.

F. H. CHASE. LOCKING ATTACHMENT FOB. BOXES.

APPLICATION FILE]? D30. 18, 1902.

N0 IODEL.

Fig] i i A i @-s j Hunk/z. 66483122767107 Patented July 21, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK H. CHASE, OF JAFFREY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

LOCKING ATTACHMENT FOR BOXES.

sPEcIFIcATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 734,255, dated July 21, 1903.

Application filed December 18, 1902. Serial No. 135,702. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK H. CHASE, of J aifrey, county of Cheshire, State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Locking Attachmentfor Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic locking devices for hinged box-lids, doors, and the like, its object being to provide a simple, selfacting device which will serve the purpose of holding the lid or door secured in both open and closed positions, but which can be readily tripped or released by the hand for either opening or closing; and it consists in the features of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is an end elevation of a box fitted with my improvement, the lid being shown closed; and Fig. 2 is a similar view in which the lid is shown open, the lid being secured in both positions by the attachment.

In the drawings, A represents a box or similar structure provided with the lid or door 2, having preferably a'spring-hinge 3 connected with the body of the structure.

My improvement B is made preferably of a piece of spring-wire of sufficient weight for the work it has to perform. One end is secured to the end of the lid 2, preferably by driving the end of the wire into the lid, as shown, and fastening by means of a staple 4.

.The body of the wire stands at an acute angle with the part secured to the lid and extends alongsideof the end 5 of the box and is provided with a substantially right-angled bend 6 and a reverse acute-angled bend 7.

Projecting from the end of the box in po-- sition to be engaged by the bend 6.when the lid is closed is a stud 8, another stud 9 being so placed as to be engaged by the bend 7 when the lid is open, as shown in Fig. 2. In each case the stud is so placed that the wire B bears against it with spring tension as the lid approaches the position to which it is to be secured bythe respective stud. In other words, when the lid is closed the wire engages the stud 8 with spring tension, whereas when the lid is opened the wire is swung against the stud 9 with a pressure increasing as the lid opens, its resiliency at the proper point throwing the bend 7 into engagement with the stud, the shoulder 10, formed by the bend 6, serving as a stop to prevent closing of the lid. When it is desired, however, to close the lid, thetip of the wire is pressed laterally to throw it out of engagement with the stud 9,when the spring-hinge automantically closes the lid, the bend 6 of the wire engaging the stud 8 and locking the lid in closed position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. The combination with a hinged box-lid, of a resilient arm rigidly fixed thereto and depending adjacent the end of the box, and stops on opposite sides of the path of movement of said arm adapted to be respectively engaged by said arm to lock the lid in either open or closed position.

2. The combination with a box and its hinged lid, of a resilient arm rigidly connected to one end of said lid and swinging adjacent the end of the box, and a stop on each side of the path of movement of said arm, with one of which it'is brought into engagement when the lid is opened and with the other when the lid is closed, so as to lock the lid in either position.

Signed at J affrey this 11th day of December, 1902.

r A FRANK H. CHASE. 

